BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

Table 2.4: Registered Refugees in Official Camps
Population Numbers, Distribution and Characteristics
Year Total Registered Refugees Registered Refugees in Camps % Registered Refugees in Camps
1953 870,158 300,785 34.6
1955 912,425 351,532 38.5
1960 1,136,487 409,223 36.0
1965 1,300,117 508,042 39.1
1970 1,445,022 500,985 34.7
1975 1,652,436 551,643 33.4
1980 1,863,162 613,149 32.9
1985 2,119,862 805,482 38.0
1990 2,466,516 697,709 28.3
1995 3,246,044 1,007,375 31.0
2000 3,806,055 1,227,954 32.3
2003 4,082,300 1,301,689 32.0
2004 4,186,711 1,226,213 29.0
2005 4,283,892 1,265,987 30.0
2006 4,396,209 1,321,525 29.7
Source: UNRWA. Not all Palestine refugees registered as living in camps physically reside in an official refugee camp. (Figures as of 30 June
each year; registered refugees in camps for 2006, figures as of 31 March 2007.)
Several factors explain why these Palestinian
refugees have remained in camps after
more than six decades of exile:
• family and village support structure
in the camp;
• lack of resources to rent or buy
alternative accommodation outside
the camp;
• lack of living space outside the camp
due to overcrowding;
• legal, political and social obstacles
that force refugees to remain in the
camp;
• issues concerning physical safety;
• the refugee camp as a symbol of
the temporary nature of exile and
the demand to exercise the right of
return.
The largest camp population resides in
the occupied Gaza Strip (479,574 as of
31 March 2007), comprising more than
one-third of all registered refugees in
camps. In the occupied West Bank, there
are fewer refugees in camps (186,872 as
of 31 March 2007). Approximately 39%
of the total refugee population in the
OPT lives in camps. Children playing with a broken washing machine, Baqa’a refugee camp, located near Amman,
Jordan, November 2006. © Anne Paq/Activestills.
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